had mastered himself sufficiently to use a quiet voice
he asked:

"When is this great council of which you speak?"

"In three or four days," replied Ilse. "We hear that many Serene
Highnesses are coming from both Berlin and Vienna."

"And the French girl is to be carried away before they come?"

"She goes the day after tomorrow with the dark woman, Suzanne, to the
hunting lodge of His Highness, higher in the mountains."

Then with a frightened gesture she clapped her hand upon her mouth.

"You will say nothing of it, Herr Johann?" she pleaded. "It is a secret
from all but a few, and His Highness doubtless would punish us terribly
if he knew that we told."

"You can trust me, Ilse," said John earnestly. "I would not bring
trouble upon you or Olga. Besides, what is it to me?"

He sought by indirect questions to learn more from them, but they would
not continue, seeming to be afraid that they had already said too much.
Then he turned casually from the subject, lest he rouse suspicion, and
spoke of his horses. But all the while he was searching his mind, as one
looks for a treasure, to discover how he could follow Julie and Suzanne
to their new abode.

He gathered from Walther that the hunting lodge was higher in the
mountains in the depths of a great forest, about six leagues from
Zillenstein where there was much big game. In times of peace the prince
frequently went there, and a good automobile road led to the lodge,
although in winter the snow was often so deep that the place was
inaccessible.

Late that afternoon the hoofs of horses beat steadily on the road
leading from the valley up to Zillenstein. John from a coign of vantage
saw approaching a young man in a gray German uniform, followed by four
hussars, also in German gray. Anyone who came to Zillenstein was of
interest, and as John looked the leading figure became familiar. Doubt
soon changed to certainty. He knew the swing of the broad shoulders and
the high pose of the head. It was the young prince, von Arnheim.

"And so they all gather," said John to himself.

He was swept by the little shiver that one often feels when influenced
suddenly by a powerful emotion. Fate or chance had a wonderful way of
bringing about strange things. He had seen it too often not to know. He
was sure in his heart now that von Boehlen too would come some time and
somehow.

He looked at the terrace. Julie and Suzanne had appeared there in the
last few minutes, and they